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Topic: News from the real world (Read 7515 times)

3 weird unconfirmed pieces from recent weeks, as far as I remember them:

In a house in Spain mysterious faces appeared on walls and floors. The faces have been reported in the same house some twenty-thirty years ago, but vanished later until reappearing again this year. While the faces appear so, scientists are sure they were not painted, but lack any explanation.

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The owners of a farm somewhere in east Asia started to employ trained monkeys for harvesting from trees. A good and cheap work force, the owners claim.

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Scientists have made an experiment: using cursing, swearing and generally foul language on a glass of water for one hour, they measured the effects this accumulated negative energy has. Applied on seeds, only half of them could germinate. Applied on humans (drinking), men were reported to have lessened potency, and women became more hairy.

Now if this is true, it is actually possible to curse someone. A weak curse to a roleplayers expectations, but it is.

At Phillippines three hurracanes strike at the same time Luzon (the upper part of the Phillippines) and after that a Island was spotted olmost 3kilometers away from luzon when the travelers came near to the Island thay were shocked horrofied they saw many human skeletons on the shore and at the middle of the island was many skulls what's the cause of this but some people say is was a curse of bad luck (I'm not sure about that) or maybe its an altar of death(they say) there were many skeletons but there were no boat spotted 2.5kilometers away even the oceon reef was checked but how did the skeletons got there?-------------------------------------------------------------------I'm not sure if it's complete but that what the news says.-------------------------------------------------------------------I think I know how the bones got there maybe the dead bodies was just carried away by the storm or someone put them there and leave them there.(I'm not sure maybe just maybe)Would you believe that!?

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Don't worry I used the back of the sword... oops it's double sided, sorry....My long journey for immortality is also known as fame....

- Hurricane unburies beach treasure, yields precious coins -- It is the stuff of pirate legends, but do not waste your breath asking Joel Ruth on what stretch of Florida's Treasure Coast he found his hoard of Spanish pieces of eight - waiting to be scratched out of the sand with bare fingers and toes. Treasure hunters guard their secrets. Especially, if like Ruth, they have just found about 180 near-mint silver coins worth more than $40,000.

- Old towns emerge as lakes shrink -- Early last year, fishermen searching for bass and bluegill on a northern finger of Lake Mead saw a curious cluster of concrete blocks jutting out of the water. It turned out to be the chimney of what had been, 65 years earlier, an ice-cream parlor.

- Canterbury Cathedral is reviving the ancient monastic tradition of making beer available within its precincts. The Kent cathedral is selling a bottled bitter which is made by local brewer Shepherd Neame according to a 300-year-old Kentish recipe. Canon Richard Marsh said beer was made on site by the monastic community in Canterbury between 1100 and 1538. He hopes Cathedral Ale "will remind people of the fun and friendship of a visit to the cathedral".

- Lewis is in the vanguard of conservationists' ambitious new effort to inventory the living contents of some of the thousands of caves that dominate Tennessee's subterranean landscape. With more than 8,600 known caves, Tennessee has more than any other state, and they provide a home for countless ancient and rare creatures that dwell underground and out of sight.

- Pope John Paul, in a gesture of friendship with the Orthodox Church, handed over the bones of two early Christian saints Saturday that had been brought to Rome from ancient Constantinople centuries ago. The Vatican said the return of the saints' relics was part of the Pope's efforts to promote Christian unity and dismissed any suggestion that John Paul was "asking pardon" for their removal by Crusaders from the seat of the Orthodox Church.

- Planetary configuration suggests the probability of a five or six magnitude earthquake occurring in Assam on December 12, a Madras University geologist told an international conference on natural hazards here today. N Venkatanathan said a theory developed by his group indicate that the quake may occur around six in the morning with its epicenter located at 26.91 degrees North latitude and 94.49 East longitute with an error of one degree. This puts it about 100 km west southwest of Dibrugarh.

- The arrival of waxwings - exotic crested birds from Siberia - is traditionally the harbinger of an icy winter. This year enormous flocks, thousands strong, have spread across Scotland and East Anglia. The influx has coincided with predictions from several weather forecasting services that Britain will soon be gripped by a big freeze, reminiscent of 1963. Holly and rowan trees laden with red berries - another portent in folklore of sub-zero conditions - have been widely remarked upon. Bookmakers have shortened the odds on a white Christmas.

-A baby at a age of I don't really know lived in 3 days under a buried building I mean buried with mud and soil and wood (because of elligal logging) but when they found the child it was thin and hungry (ofcoures)!It's quite amazing that the child live that long without food and water.

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Don't worry I used the back of the sword... oops it's double sided, sorry....My long journey for immortality is also known as fame....

In India, a Hindu priest was bitten by a cobra. The priest was driven to a hospital, and recovers quite fine. The animal, however, fell immediately after the bite numb, started to vomit blood later, and in the end died! The called veterinary could not found any natural cause of death.

Guys, if they start to be bullet-proof, we should consider joining them. There HAS to be something special in that religion...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A New York woman who posed in high-society circles as a Saudi princess pleaded guilty on Tuesday to grand larceny and insurance fraud and was ordered to a mental hospital.

Antoinette Millard, 42, used a special credit card to spend nearly $1 million during a three-month shopping spree. She also bilked an insurance company of more than a quarter of a million dollars.

As part of her plea deal, Millard will spend one year at an in-patient psychiatric facility where she will receive intensive psychiatric treatment.

At high-society events with celebrities and socialites, Millard introduced herself as "Princess Antoinette" and said she was also a former Victoria's Secret model.

In reality, Millard was a former vice president of the investment banking firm of Brown Brothers Harriman. She scammed Chubb Insurance Co. in 2003, claiming $262,000 worth of jewelry she was carrying was stolen when she was mugged on Madison Avenue in New York City. She also spent $950,000 using a no-limit "Centurion" card sent to her by American Express.

After her arrest, she blamed her predicament on traumatic events in her life including being sexually harassed at work, and witnessing "people jumping out of the Twin Towers" while on her way to work on Sept. 11, 2001.

so the fantasy version would go something like:A woman presents herself as a princess from a far away country. She claims she has been robbed on her way here, but she expects the follow up procession with other family members to be here in the next few months. The people of the upper crust take the girl in. She is the toast of the town in the ball and affair circuit. She runs up incredible bills for dresses, jewels, and such.

Then someone finds out she is a total fake. The secret oozes out into the high society.

The problem is, the rich people don't want to lose face for being duped by the woman. They have to find a way to remove her.

So somebody arranges to kidnap her (to sell her into slavery and recoup some of the loses). Someone else just wants her dead (because they we have an excuse for why she never paid her bills). Others want to quiety remove her from town, and then throw her into the gaol somewhere far away. A few others are trying to find a way to publically prove that she is not a princess, as to embarass their rivals. Of course nobody talks to anyone else about their plans, so imagine all of them going off at once. It could make for a circus of fun, especially if the characters, known to do "odd jobs", are hired to do one or moe of them.

News headlines used to add depth to a setting:I took the 5 latest news on my Reuters RSS news feed and made them into Coldforged setting occurrences. These could be used as plot hooks, rumours & bar talk, or even incidents the PCs witness. Use the news for what they are worth

1. Eu, allies demand Iran resume nuclear freezeThe duchy of Wildengreeve and its ally, the Kingdom of Silmaroth, has demanded that the Principality of Calzio freeze their plans of building the Grand Invokers' Academy in the City of Ganozi.

2. Fugitive couple arrested in OhioThe legendary renegade Eccahni and his wife Eliana of Mackai, was recently apprehended in the island-spanning City of Sirago in the Acaian Island Archipelago. The hunt for the couple who escaped justice three months ago, ended inside an abandoned storage building, wherein the couple made their last stand. They managed to kill four City Watch members and one Imperial Overseer before they were finally subdued.

3. Tropical storm Irene reforms in AtlanticThe Storm Kamadu, the very storm that levelled the City of Mendao one hundred and thirty years ago, has been reformed on the Plains of Qenxia. The messengers say that, if anything, the storm is even fiercer than it was over a century ago. So far only villages and minor towns have been destroyed, but the Storm has changed direction and is now headed for the Valkar Capital.

4. Britain to deport 10 foreigners seen as a threatThe Crown of Silmaroth has deemed it necessary to expel ten Imperial Citizens whose businesses performed activities interfering with the best interest of the Kingdom. The Empire has vowed retribution for this act of injustice against its innocent citizens.

5. Iraq Shi'ites hammer home autonomy demandsDissident Ghaunar Worshippers from the Imperial Conquered Lands demand autonomy from the heathen rule of the Caliph-Emperor. Their spokesman, the revered servant of Ghaunar, Tyrleas Acheani, has issued a call for the arming of the Temple Warriors. The situation is tense and everyone awaits the arrival of the Imperial Envoy and the expected summit in ÃƒÆ’Ã¢â‚¬Âºr-Kanesh

The khipu, while arguable not a very practical tool (to our eyes at least), could be a nice bit of chrome for any setting, or a dead civilisation.

The purpose (or main purpose) was accounting - for the tribute to the kingdom. Another interesting bit, to the Incas a tax was not goods or money, but actual labour for the state. With the help of the khipu, workers were organized into bigger groups (as successive layers of officials in the Inca hierarchy compiled their sums) and could be passed along with instructions to other officers. And "In the reverse direction, local accountants would forward information on accomplished tasks upward through the hierarchy."

"Architeuthis appears to be a much more active predator than previously suspected, using its elongated feeding tentacles to strike and tangle prey," the researchers write.

So not only is this creature big (estimated at 25 feet / 8 meters), it is also an avid hunter. It seems to live in depths where there is no light, using its great eyes to see the often light-producing prey.

The study team reports that the severed tentacle repeatedly gripped the boat deck and crew after it was hauled aboard. The squid's tentacles are armed with suckers, each ringed with tiny teeth to help snare prey.

Everyone knows the cliche about life imitating art. Well, here we go again. Because of Hurricane Katrina, we have learned of a reported factual parallel to one of the most over-the-top ideas ever in one of the most over-the-top movie spoofs ever.1

In "Austin Powers, International Man of Mystery," one of Mike Myers' many characters, Dr. Evil, asks his people to provide him with "Sharks with fricking laser beams attached to their heads."

Now, do we have a case of fiction becoming reality?

On Monday, the British newspaper "The Observer" quoted an accident investigator who claimed that three dozen U.S. military dolphins, supposedly trained in secret near Lake Pontchartrain, had been washed away by Hurricane Katrina. Story continues below ↓ advertisement

These animals were supposedly capable of identify underwater spies and were carrying a special harness which permitted them to fire toxic darts at anybody trying to sabotage a ship.

Presumably, the actual firing would be done by remote control, rather than by the dolphins, who may be really smart, but who do not have hands with which to press the firing button for the "fricking darts," nor, for that matter, any "fricking laser beams attached to their heads."

Well, it sounds ludicrous, except that the Navy has long admitted experimenting to see if dolphins could be used militarily. The idea of them as last lines of defense against underwater terrorists was broached very seriously in the months and years immediately after 9/11.

On Monday evening, however, the Pentagon actually issued a statement saying all of its dolphins have been accounted for. Moreover, the DOD says its dolphins aren't trained to attack, just to look for "objects" with their diver companions. Plus, they have no dolphin units in Louisiana, only in San Diego.

So, could there be 36 trained dolphins out there somewhere carrying toxic darts on their backs, ready to shoot surfers or divers or Lloyd Bridges or Patrick Duffy from "Manimal"?

Moby Solangi, the president of Marine Life Oceanarium in Gulfport, Miss., which rescued several of its dolphins in the Gulf of Mexico after Hurricane Katrina, appeared on "Countdown" Monday to discuss the possibility.

To read an excerpt of his conversation with Keith Olbermann, continue to the text below. To watch the video, click on the "Launch" button to the right.

KEITH OLBERMANN: Well, I'm confused. Are there such dolphins? Were they in the New Orleans area? Could they be missing? And, if so, should we assume they are armed and dangerous?

MOBY SOLANGI, PRESIDENT, MARINE LIFE OCEANARIUM: Well, boy, I will tell you, that sounds like something from "X-Files." If I'd known, we probably would be running away from our own dolphins!

OLBERMANN: Make sure I'm right on this one point here, that dolphins could not actually fire poison dart guns, even if they are wearing them, even if they are loose, because they don't have hands. Am I right about this so far?

SOLANGI: No, I think that's science fiction. And these animals are trained. It's common knowledge, to look for underwater mines and divers. But I think darts and all that is a little bit too far.

OLBERMANN: The story in the British paper suggested the one thing, the one kernel of supposed truth off of which they hung this entire story was that, when your dolphins were located out in the Gulf and met up with their handlers and were eventually rescued, that the Navy wanted to inspect the dolphins first. Is there any truth to that?

SOLANGI: No, not at all. As a matter of fact, we didn't have any Navy folks. Now, they have helped us, provided us these temporary tanks in which we're holding these animals until they recover, so they can be transported. But, no, the Navy has absolutely no involvement in the rescue of these animals, other than providing us with temporary pools.

OLBERMANN: And nobody saw any other dolphins in the neighborhood wearing big darts. How are your dolphins, by the way? We need to follow up on that.

SOLANGI: Oh, they're doing wonderfully well. They're getting healthy. We moved all eight of them to the SeaBee base in Gulfport, Mississippi. And, after they recover, we should move them into other aquariums around the country.

OLBERMANN: All right, last question. If I see one of these dolphins wearing a harness with a poison dart gun on its back in my neighborhood, should I call Homeland Security or George C. Scott or Dr. Evil? Or who should I call?

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“I'm yet another resource-consuming kid in an overpopulated planet, raised to an alarming extent by Hollywood and Madison Avenue, poised with my cynical and alienated peers to take over the world when you're old and weak.” -Bill Watterson

BERLIN (Reuters) - The world's tallest -- and smelliest -- flower has bloomed, reaching a height of 2.94 metres, 18 centimetres more than the previous record for the species, the Stuttgart botanical garden said on Friday.

The Titan Arum, or Amorphophallus Titanum, nicknamed "corpse flower" because of its putrid stench, blooms rarely and briefly.

Garden staff have nicknamed the purple flower "Diva" and are charting its life on their web site, www.wilhelma.de.

But those keen for a glimpse, or a whiff, in person must be quick: just 24 hours after the 11 year-old plant produced its first flower, the bloom began to wilt on Friday.

The Titan Arum was discovered in 1878 in its sole indigenous habitat, the Indonesian island of Sumatra, and grows in cultivation in only a handful of places around the world.

Its scent has been likened to rotting fish or animal flesh.

"The smell is crucial to its survival in its natural habitat because it attracts pollinating carrion beetles and flesh flies," said botanist Franziska Lo-Kockel.

Lo-Kockel brought the bulb of the plant, weighing some 40 kilograms, from the University of Frankfurt to the Stuttgart gardens 11 years ago.